• Last week, OCBC and DBS attracted a combined S$142M of net insti inflow, with UOB seeing S$35M of net outflow. The REIT Sector also attracted S$25M of net insti inflow, led by CICT and MPACT. Combined, Singapore-listed stocks attracted S$182M of net insti inflows last week, curbing net outflow in the 2022 YTD to S$48M.
   
• Over the week, the STI gained 2.2%, returning to 9 May levels, with Jardine C&C, Wilmar Int, Sembcorp Ind, OCBC and City Dev leading the Index. The STI has generated a 7.6% total return in the 2022 YTD compared to an 11.7% decline for the FTSE Developed Index. The SDPR STI ETF, which turned 20-years in April 2022, will go ex-div on 11 Aug.
   
• City Dev will also report 1H22 results on 11 Aug. On 28 July, Jardine C&C reported a 51% YoY increase in underlying profit. Last week, Wilmar Int reported 2Q22 core net profit more than doubled YoY to US$652M, Sembcorp Ind reported 1H22 net profit before exceptional items was up 94% YoY & OCBC reported 2Q22 net profit grew 28% YoY.
   
• Raffles Medical Group saw the fifth highest net institutional inflows last week, while rallying 17% last week and reporting 1H22 group revenue of S$382M, representing 11.2% YoY growth. Attributed to the return of patients to its clinics, the 1H22 healthcare division revenue of S$256 million was up 24% YoY.
   

Last week, Singapore stocks attracted S$182 million of net institutional inflows, following the S$152 million of net outflow for the preceding week. This brought the combined net institutional outflow for the 2022 year to 5 Aug to S$48 million.

Banks, REITs led inflows. Last week, the Bank, REIT and Industrial Sectors saw the highest net institutional inflows, while other Financial Services, Telecommunications and Energy stocks saw the highest net institutional outflows. The 30 stocks that booked the highest net institutional inflows for the week are tabled below. Both Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and DBS Group Holdings (DBS) led the net institutional inflows over the week, with nine trusts of the REIT Sector among the 30 stocks.

Source: SGX, Refinitiv, Bloomberg (Data as of 5 August 2022)

In contrast to the above 30 stocks, there were 25 stocks that attracted net institutional outflows of more than S$1.0 million last week, led by United Overseas Bank, ST Engineering, NetLink NBN Trust, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) and Yangzijiang Financial Holding. Yesterday, Yangzijiang Shipbuilding (Holdings) reported a 70% YoY increase in 1H22 revenue to RMB 9.7 billion, backed by higher contribution from all segments.
 

Over the week, the STI gained 2.2%, returning to 9 May levels. For the first 30 weeks of 2022 the STI has generated a 7.6% total return, compared to an 11.7% decline for the FTSE Developed Index. With banks making up more than 40% of the STI, last week’s reporting of 2Q22 and 1H22 results of DBS and OCBC provided much focus for Index investors. For the Banks, 2Q22 YoY Net Profit growth varied from DBS reporting 7%, United Overseas Bank reporting 11% and OCBC reporting 28%. At S$6.0 billion for 2Q22, the combined quarterly NII of the trio has beat the recent combined NII high of S$5.75 billion in 3Q19. This was also the seventh consecutive quarter of QoQ NII growth. Note the SDPR STI ETF will go ex-dividend on 11 August.
 

OCBC also ranked among the five strongest performing STI stocks for the week. A total of four of the five of the STI’s strongest gainers last week have recently reported financial results. On 28 July, Jardine Cycle & Carriage reported a 51% YoY increase in underlying profit to US$522 million. Last week, Wilmar International reported 2Q22 core net profit more than doubled YoY to US$652 million, Sembcorp Industries reported 1H22 net profit before exceptional items was up 94% YoY to S$490 million, and OCBC reported 2Q22 net profit grew 28% YoY to S$1.48 billion. City Developments will report 1H22 results before the 11 August open.
 

A non-STI stock, Raffles Medical Group, saw the fifth highest net institutional inflows last week, while rallying 17% last week and reporting 1H22 group revenue of S$382 million, representing 11.2% YoY growth. Attributed to the return of patients to its clinics, the 1H22 healthcare division revenue of S$256 million was up 24% YoY. For more details, click here.
 

While global GDP releases are pointing to technical recessions or near technical recessions, both earnings and employment data are providing some key qualifications to the technical readouts. The above earnings reports have coincided with preliminary data from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) showing Singapore’s employment (excl. migrant domestic workers) grew by 64,400 (or up 1.9% QoQ) in 2Q22, a faster pace than seen in 1Q22 (click here for more). Similarly in the US, the upbeat earnings season has been accompanied by 3.3 million jobs created in the first seven months of 2022. However, looking ahead, recent corporate outlooks have flagged risks including potentially more food and energy shortages from Russia-Ukraine conflict, more aggressive interest rate hikes and a significant slowdown in regional growth as challenges going into 2023.